You know what they say: you never get a second chance to make a first impression. These days it's most likely that impression will be online. In this piece, we consider the top five mistakes businesses make online that leave a bad taste in customers' mouths.

Maxx Minick

Maxx Minick works for the relevancy-first link building firm Page One Power. He graduated from the College of Idaho, and currently lives in Boise. He specializes in content marketing, local marketing, and e-commerce SEO strategies.

Articles by Maxx Minick

Being proactive in SEO is perhaps the most abstract of the 5 Pillars of SEO. It is also perhaps the most important. The simplest way to think about proactiveness and how it relates to SEO is to always be informed and prepared. Sandra Wallace not only needs to understand her own niche in the RC hobby industry, but she needs to develop an understanding of the SEO industry as well.

Understanding your niche is a foundation for any marketing campaign, SEO or otherwise. Businesses need to know who they are appealing to, what attracts an audience, and even better, why potential customers are attracted to particular pieces of content or use certain keywords in their online searches.

Converting the five pillars of SEO into actionable strategies can be complex and difficult. Each pillar represents an abstract philosophy or ideal. However, within these guiding principles you can derive actionable techniques. Relevance may be the most important pillar as it impacts all aspects of SEO. Beginning with relevance, we discuss how strategies are put into practice, with examples of how a company can become and remain relevant within their market and their desired target audience.

There are a few aspects of SEO that over the years have solidified themselves as the foundation of any campaign. This is because Google's changes are at their core about trying to provide the best user experience. Therefore, if you align your SEO efforts to improving user experience (and searcher intent), then you can rest relatively sure that your work is future safe, no matter how Google alters their algorithm. Here are the five rules that always have an impact on your SEO campaign.